Wednesday, February 22, 2012

His smile shows me he is surprised to see me standing there with camera in hand looking at him. He was lost in his world of puppies and boy things. I was looking directly in his eyes and I caught it. His beautiful happy smile that makes him Jo. No warning or directing just him at his best. His eyes a blaze with love and me on the other end getting burned. Have I thanked the Lord enough for this little African boy? The one who continues to keep me amazed at his ability to keep me learning and striving to be a better mom to him? I love when strangers stare at us and ask the questions they always ask. I love to tell his story, the one of a beautiful passage of love and adoption. I love being along side of him and teaching him and training him. I'm glad the Lord chose me to be his mom.

There is no before and after, no sooner or later, no now and then. Time is now and just as the trees slowly give way to spring and you wake up and realize winter is almost over so it's true with the time we have with our children. The Lord only gives us a season. A season and our memories will fade like the winter cold or the summer heat. The passage of time so easily mistaken for long days or long nights with crying babes and long illnesses.. We forget we longed for winter when it was hot..We long for summer when it is cold. We must stop our perpetual longing for something different than what we have and embrace the here and now. The today.

We forget to look through the lens of time and slow down and see it for what it is. A season to enjoy our homes filled with little cooks, and baby dolls and boy forts. The world draws us to herself. She tries to draw us away from the walls of our home. Promising us more than motherhood could. She is a deceiver.

She tries to draw us away from the hours we spend with our children. Telling us we need a life. We have to have our life and staying at home is not important.

Warm baths and lotions is not important. Seeing our children through their days of holey jeans and skinned up knees is not worth a pay-check. The memories fade for most children. Childhood passes without a notice of its importance. The passage of a woman becoming a true servant because she believes that motherhood is the most important calling of her simple life, passes by and very few stand to applaud her diploma of simpleness because the world does not like simple. The world despises the plain dressed, hard working woman who is going against the grain but this woman is raising up the next generation and that scares the world and it should.

Waking up everyday and knowing you're not backing down from the everyday task of motherhood. Knowing there will be people, even family, who will not respect you for choosing to work and play along side your children from dawn till dusk. The world will tell you that you are wasting your life. The Lord will tell you to die to your life if you want to follow Him.

The world will try to convince you to give your little chair days and fist full of flower days away. It will lure you away by telling you that motherhood is not glamours or beautiful.

and......someday's it's not. The crying, diapers, and runny noses are not so beautiful but I wouldn't miss all of that because that's part of it. The process in which the Lord leads me closer to trust Him. Those hard days when it seems I can't do anything. My brain being interrupted by so many I can't think. I wonder myself who I am and who I've become. When I go to the store and people stare and avoid our "wolf pack".....like we all just stepped right out of the wild. The days when we go to a restaurant and you see the waiters flipping a coin to see who loses and has to wait on us....
When, at the end of a day, I look and feel older not wiser.. all those days are not beautiful but they teach me to survive and rely totally on my Father who made me to do hard days and hard seasons. I will not quit. I will stand in the gap and make it easier for my daughters to be the beautiful keepers of home as God calls them and I will train them to do their job.

We have only a few seasons of our life and then it's over and at the end there is no going back. I doubt I will regret all of these days with these precious children of mine.

How do we detect what we call the passage of time except by perceiving change? Without our memories, all change would be imperceptible. So today I will continue to make memories and continue to learn and grow and with the Lord's help become a better mother than I was yesterday and to build more memories so I can see.........this beautiful season of the here and now.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The sun is going in for the day and the night time seems to unravel my house, the one I'm supposed to be in charge of. The babies crying, and wanting me to hold them for their latest melt down over something small but big to them. Supper needing to be finished and school needing to be checked and attitudes straightened out...Yep, this all happens when the sun is going down and my body is tired. I keep telling myself, I can do this. One, two, three diapers changed. One more boo-boo and four little people needing their hair combed out before bed. It all must be done. I can give a lot of these jobs over to others but everyone seems to want mamma.

I really just want to "sit a spell" like they used to say on Andy Griffith and watch the moon slowly make her way as she spreads her light across this farm...but I can't. So much noise tonight. I would have to scream loud to penetrate the level, so I don't. Noise coming from every direction, dishes banging on table, babies crying or laughing, dogs, fights between brothers. My own name 'mamma' being cried out seems unfamiliar in the noise I have to search out the caller and I find him tears streaming....a bike wreck. Dust him off and patch him up and send him on his way again.

I'm not in some foreign country, but my feet tell me I could be. At the end of the day I've poured out what I have and fed as many as I can. I have clothed, and cried with people I barely know. I have sat with a woman who's family is a mess and another who found out she's having twins in an already stressful situation and manged to get supper on the table. I'm no super woman but our family has open doors and with that comes open eyes and with open eyes comes responsibility before the Lord. I cannot look away and even though night time brings the melt down hour and some say, "you already have so much to do" I will say, "I can never do enough for my Heavenly Father who has done so much for me". I will, for as long as He wills, live freely giving what He alone has given me...grace. Grace to others. Not knowing how it feels to live their life.

My table is set for one extra tonight, like it has been for the past few months. A little guy needing a place, a warm meal, and a yes from someone who will say yes with everything in them. I have so much and this little man needs only a small amount of what I have, crumbs really...and I give..I give him everything I have..he takes.

I pull his highchair close up to my table and feed him like he belongs, after all isn't that what everyone wants, to belong? I will bathe him and sing to him and rub medicine on his skin. I will dress him and wrap him in my arms and rock and kiss the top of his head and breathe him in.

I lay everyone down and slowly make my way to my closet and close my eyes....did I really just make it through this day? So much packed into it I can't even begin to explain. I slip out of my clothes and take a shower and crawl beneath my sheets and whisper, "Lord am I doing Your will? This is hard. This road is bumpy and there is a lot of hurting people out there and I can't fix them all or fix all of their problems."He gently reminds me I fix no one, I'm simply walking the road with people that He chooses to put in my path. He says feed those people. Clothe those people. Love on those people that I put on the road before you...that's all I ask...Are you truly loving those God puts directly in your path? Don't miss the joy that comes from living on the mission field of your life.

Blessings,Robin

Who and what we truly are is really reflected by whether we love and accept others just as they are, right where they are.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Contentment is not a natural thing we do. Weeds grow, we don't have to plant them. Covetousness, discontentment, and murmuring are as natural to man as thorns are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and brambles; they come up naturally enough, because they are indigenous to the earth and so, we need not teach our children to complain; they complain fast enough without any education. I believe I have helped the weeds grow at times. Instead of picking the weeds, I've watered them and scattered them by not training my children with great intentions and by just "letting whatever happens happen".
Gardens have to be tended and the Lord has made me the earthly gardener to Taylor, Tucker, Cooper, Cullen, Chandler, Jo, Josie and Ellie.

The precious things of the earth must be cultivated. If we want wheat, we must plow and sow; if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the gardener's care. If we want thankful, grateful, contented children we must first be willing to work in the heat of their hearts garden.

Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated; we must teach our children the heavenly art of contentment in all things. Paul says, "I have learned..to be content" Paul was old when he learned this, we have to start early.. I can almost see him in prison saying, "this.. all of this, has nothing to do with me but much to do about Him." We have to teach our children it's not about them.. We are training up a generation that reeks of selfishness and men and women who won't "stick it out" during hard times.....We have to train our children to stick it out. To know hard times comes to all of us..We don't do this. We treat our children as if they're the center of the universe instead of Christ. Oh, may we repent of indulging our children...and put Christ back on the throne instead of our children's selfish desires.

The older I get the more I realize that I'm learning slowly, not much different then Paul I guess. The day belongs to the Lord and whatever He chooses for me to do then I do without too much complaining. I see the clock, I've lost a precious child, I've been given second chances. Over the years I've complained a lot but now, years later, I see the Lord slowly teaching me my place. My contentment. I see Him in the garden of my life slowly weeding out the brier patch over the years. He still is walking my rows and, as painful as it is, tills up things that's been in my garden for a while.

I weed my children's attitude when I see a spirit of discontentment. We have to be willing to work. To train and teach. In our house if our children complain about the food, they are asked to leave the table. I don't buy all of them treats at the same time. Oh, I know, so unfair. but try it..Only buy two or three treats and tell the rest their turn will be the next time. I'm weeding.

Be happy regardless if you got a treat or not.

Teach them...hard lessons.

Weeding is a lot of work and some days I don't want to work in the garden of my children's life. I want to sit in the swing and hope the weeds of discontentment don't smother them out... but really? I can't and you can't either. I have dirty feet and dirty clothes from time spent in the eight gardens the Lord has given to me and when the sun is hot and the weeds are tall I want to walk......but He says, "stay a little while longer and I will help you" and as the sun goes down on the day I realize that training is not easy work but I'm not alone in the garden... I have the master gardener right beside me.

I have a blog that I would like for you all to take a look at.Silk and Purple is a new blog that a small group of some young ladies in our community have started. The blog is truly amazing, just in all of the work that they have put into getting it started and it looks great. If you have an older daughter, or even if you don't, this blog is sure to be added to your favorites list. More than just fashion advice, the young ladies over at Silk & Purple strive to make a statement that beauty is more than just skin deep. They truly try to honor Christ in their posts and bring Him into the middle of every issue. Raising daughters in this culture is hard, so when encouragement from like-minded sisters in Christ comes along, I for one know that my oldest daughter is very grateful for the Godly advice that is offered. Every thing from fashion advice and recipes to much needed posts on speech and using words carefully. The wit and humor mixed with truth and good advice is sure to make this blog a favorite of ours for quite a while. I also appreciate the honoring attitude that the girls display towards their parents, consistently speaking highly of them.
So go on over, give it a look.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

As Christian women our purpose is to live a life that will bring glory to God and pass that legacy on to the next generation. We are seeing a new awareness of the importance of home in the church and society , the return of women to build that home, kindled by a passion for loving Christ and transmitting that love to the next generation, and we are thrilled to join in that reformation! We want to hold up the arms of women everywhere, encourage them in the trenches of ”my-life-for-yours” living, and give them a renewed commitment to forsake what the world esteems and embrace a life-work that will last for eternity!

Living a Legacy is simply that: encouragement, inspiration, fellowship and practical help for your journey–women who are changing the world by the upside down message of the gospel…“he who would save his life must lose it”.

Hosting Living a Legacy are Kathy Brodock, Kelly Crawford and Robin White, blog friends who started out as friends in real life and remain true friends, despite the realness, who daily encourage each other.

The conference will include eight sessions, complete with question and answer time on Saturday.

Come be encouraged and equipped to pass on a lasting legacy for God’s glory.

There will be wonderful legacy-building resources given away all day long and lots of ‘girlie treats’!

You won’t want to miss the vendor area, featuring different home industries, books and products.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds.(proverbs 27:23)

The puddles are deep around here on the farm. The rain has been coming down all day and we're stuck inside. I watch my flock and am attending to the things of my household and I notice the slightest of attitudes or signs of disrespect and I make a mental note. I watch my flock as they eat together and play together and I notice brothers being unkind or sisters being too bossy and I write it down. My household, the one the Lord gave for me to run, is very important to me. My flock is even more important and when I see one wandering too far away I take to running to get them back.

I couldn't do these things if I weren't at home.. If I weren't standing guard over this little flock of mine.

I've seen so many parents believe the lie that my 2 year old is just being normal when she pitches a fit or it's normal for my teenage son to withdraw because that's what they do when they are becoming their own person. God never says any of this is.....

God, over and over again, warns us parents to be about the business of training, not to be about the business of listening to this world and yet we listen. We let little things go. We think they will out grow the tantrums or their sullen behavior will get better when they get older.

In God's word He says the opposite is true. "Train up a chid in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it."

Why is it we believe we can do things

our way and get good results?

Once again we think we know better than God.

So we are training up a generation of lazy, self-indulged

men and women.

We don't expect anything out of our children and we think if we can just get them through the toddler years it'll get better.

Your flock just moved a step further away from you.

You ask your child to do something and they don't do it, so you do it for them because it's just easier.

Your flock just moved.

You ask your son to mow the lawn and he suddenly doesn't feel like doing anything. You don't teach your child manners because it feels fake to you. You allow your child to brag and boast about his things or her knowledge. You call it something different than boasting.. like, "they just know their history or he can sure play sports".. so let him or her show off a little it doesn't hurt anybody.

Your flock is no where around.

Go to God's word and show me where it says being prideful about anything is acceptable. We allow it because it makes us feel good that our children are smart or atheltic and yet God says pride comes before a fall and we are setting our children up for a fall. Some of the children I have the hardest time being around come from wonderful Christian homeschooled families, mine included...it's those children that know all the answers and will tell their elders or other adults how wrong they are. Our arrogant little flocks are out of control and we think it's cute. We have created something in them that is muddy and cold, for our own egos. We allow them to correct adults and we don't teach them discretion. What we don't realize is that our child will use that same know-it-all attitude on us but we won't think its so cute then. We'll try to disipline them for something we've allowed to grow. Self righteousness. I truly believe our society has planted and is watering the seed of self righteousness.God help us as mothers to unearth that weed in our home.

Don't let this weed take root. Don't allow disobience to be comfortable inside the fence. Don't allow laziness and disrespect to disrupt your whole flock because one thing I know...One child who jumps in a puddle will bring someone with them. One child who is allowed to disrespect or disobey is slowly taking over your whole flock. You have the staff..You have the power to bring the flock back to where you want them to graze, but you don't do it. Somewhere inside of yourself you think, " they'll grow up and know whats right one day and they will appreciate me for putting up with them".

Know your flock and takes notes and search scripture and then train.....while there is still time..

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"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day, I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return."